A student emailed me with a request for a case study on internal migration in an MEDC. This got me thinking about the reasons people might leave beautiful Cornwall for busy London/South East. There are a range of push and pull factors.

Remember

PUSH Factor = The reasons why people leave a place

PULL Factor = The reasons why people are attracted to a place

“Push” factors from Cornwall – Why People Leave

Only seasonal tourism jobs available – Think of all those lifeguards, restaurant workers, souvenir shops only open for 6 months of the year. Newquay’s population soars from 25,000 to as much as 100,000 between Easter and September

Click here to see an excellent timed interval of the earthquake and the many aftershocks that occurred following the earthquake.

When?

Japan Earthquake Clock Time

Friday 11 March 1446 local time

The earthquake occurred at 2.46pm which resulted in many lives being lost in the initial earthquake due to many office buildings being full as well as busy roads however a large number of lives were saved as it meant that many people were ready to act when the tsunami warning was heard. Had it been early in the morning many people would have been at home where the chances of their homes collapsing would have been less but then they would probably have responded slowewr to the tsunami warning. This however is a point of debate. Please feel free to comment below.

How strong?

The earthquake was originally described as 8.9 on the Richter scale but then later upgraded to 9.0 making it the 4th largest earthquake ever recorded since 1900. See the article here.

Why?

What were the causes? This is a complex tectonic area. Japan is located at the boundary between many tectonic plates.

The Sendai earthquake was caused by the Pacific Plate descending beneath Japan at the Japan trench/subduction zone.